Of my sewing room closet.. this quilt hasn't seen the light of day in about 2 years.
I started it in 2004. The star blocks were a going-away present from the members of my guild in Atlanta. I moved from ATL to MA in '04, and from MA to NY in '08. The MA guild gave me friendship blocks too, but I haven't even touched them yet..
I pieced this together with interesting sashing methods (the blocks didn't square up, but then again, i didn't have a square ruler either..) and clearly thought that all orange fabrics must be the same. Strangely, I still have some of that darker orange in my stash, so I didn't switch to the lighter one because I was running out.. was it a concious design decision? Oh, how my mind worked at 24!
After piecing all of the green blocks from my stash, I went out and dropped $9+/yard on an awesome batik for the back. Crazy. Then I started handquilting in pearl cotton. I had a plan at the start, but it wasn't an easy quilt design to keep up with and I think that's why I abandoned it in '04. I have pulled it out a few times over the years when I wanted something to handquilt, but the wierd design always stops me. Looking at it on the fence yesterday made me think about how I could alter the quilt pattern to make it workable. We'll see.
I'd like to have this finished, it's a great memory piece. Most of the blocks are signed and I remember all of the women. It was a great guild to be in at the time.
Love those colors! That quilt should definitely be on the couch to snuggle under. Hope you figure out an easier way to quilt it.
ReplyDeleteI love the green and orange.... it will be something special to hold all those memories!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to stick with a project that is so rooted in the past, but it would ultimately be rewarding to have a quilt with all those happy memories sewn into it. Maybe you could lower the bar and sneak some machine quilting in so it at least gets finished.
ReplyDeleteFunny how you described it as "on the fence". How metaphorical!
funny about the green and orange. i loved it when i was putting the quilt together, but then when it was done i thought "what was i thinking?!?", not that i didn't like the color combo, but that it didn't match a thing in my new apartment which was sorely in need of some decoration. After I abandoned it I picked up a blue & white hawaiian applique wall hanging which i finished and put in the apartment (it now hangs in my kitchen). You know, the green & orange would look pretty good in my current livingroom, especially in the summer & fall...
ReplyDeleteIt's a great memory piece, and also marks another step towards becoming a master quilter. Every quilt you make brings you somewhere else.
ReplyDelete